CHAPTER 44
Rain had begun falling again sometime after midnight, tapping softly against the tall windows of the hallway like quiet fingers.
The estate looked different in the rain.
Softer somehow, the sharp lines of the architecture blurred by the steady curtain of water beyond the glass.
Outside, the gardens shimmered under dim lights, every leaf and stone glistening beneath the storm.
Sera paused near one of the windows, watching the droplets slide slowly down the glass.
Storms had always calmed her. Maybe it was the way rain drowned out the smaller sounds of the world, wrapping everything in a steady rhythm that made thinking easier or maybe it was simply the reminder that even the most powerful storms eventually passed.
Still, tonight her thoughts refused to settle.
Something restless had been building inside her for days. A quiet tension she couldn’t quite explain. The kind that made her senses sharper, her awareness constantly scanning the spaces around her.
It was the same instinct she had begun developing since stepping deeper into this world.
Danger rarely arrived loudly. More often, it crept closer in silence, waiting patiently for the moment someone stopped paying attention.
Sera’s gaze drifted down the long hallway, where dim lights cast pale pools across the marble floor. Guards stood at their usual posts, their silhouettes unmoving but alert. Everything appeared normal and yet that restless feeling refused to disappear.
Somewhere deep in her chest, a quiet voice kept whispering the same warning.
Something was coming and when it finally arrived, nothing would remain the same.